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How best to describe S-cry-ed? It’s like X-Men but with a more episodic feel. For the uninformed, 20 years ago an earthquake causes severe devastation and causes a portion of Tokyo to break away into an island (referred to as the Lost Grounds). Some of the people born on this island have become more powerful than average humans as they are able to create objects either on their own bodies or in their proximity. This new breed of humans are called Alters. To counter the emergence of these new humans, a group called HOLD has been created that is tasked with containing any threat that Alters may cause and to contain them in the Lost Grounds. HOLD’s main tool is HOLY, a group of trained Alters that are used as a paramilitary group to capture and retrain Alter users.

There are a lot of characters to remember so here's a quick summary.

Main Character: Kazuma – a rogue Alter user whose power is an explosive punch that can be used 3 times before expended; Kazuma works as a freelance mercenary, taking jobs that others wouldn’t. Main Villain: Zigmarl – leader of HOLY, his alter power is unknown. Villain: Ryuho – field commander of HOLY, a generally nasty individual whose Alter is Zetsuei (a humanoid object that fights on behalf of Ryuho… and is generally restrained to prevent it from causing too much damage). Kanami – young ward of Kazuma, young adopted sister who takes care of the home… also appears to have some precognitive abilities. Kimishima – Kazuma’s friend and “manager” for jobs; he’s a regular human, but he does have a series of Alter clients.  Mimori – human doctor sent to the holy ground to provide medical care as well as do research on Alter powers; is in love with Ryuho, but he is either unaware or doesn’t care. Scheris – HOLY member, right hand of Ryuho and is also in love with Ryuho… same dealio as Mimori. Cougar – Alter member whose abilities are speed manipulation (he can make any vehicle travel much faster than it was intended… usually to the point of destroying it) and his goals are not understood. Tachibana – a former HOLY member that was kicked out for failing to defeat Kazuma; although a former enemy, he is now rogue.

All clear?

11. Alters

Start things off with a recap episode – it mostly reiterates what I’ve already mentioned, throws in a few character descriptions and gives one person’s perspective on the whole world… or at least the Lost Ground. Mimori has been imprisoned by HOLY for her recent discoveries around HOLY’s most recent activities including the military actions towards capturing native Alter users (captured Alter users are sent to 

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the mainland and experimented upon). Her break-ins using the computer system did not go unnoticed, and her imprisonment will prevent her knowledge from getting out (especially the information about the captured native Alter users). Cougar uses his Alter powers on himself to break into the HOLY prison complex and break out Mimori, after collecting her personal items he brings her to the airport with the intent of bringing her to freedom from HOLY’s influence. Although appreciative of what Cougar did, Mimori decides to not leave the Lost Ground yet as she still wants to confront Ryuho.

Kazuma has finally woken from the aftermath of his most recent battle, and now that he has healed enough, he and Kimishima can return home. Upon returning home, the farm where Kanami was working has been attacked by HOLY members led by Ryuho, leaving the farm as a smoldering ruin.

12. Kunihiko Kimishima

Kimishima and Kazuma discover that all of the workers (including Kanami) escaped. At that moment, one of the members of HOLY appears and begins fighting with Kazuma. Holy member Dar can create a series of duplicates of himself that can become immaterial upon being attacked – any attack that Kazuma makes is ineffective and he is continually swarmed by multiple opponents.  Kazuma orders Kimishima to escape with the farm owner and get Kanami to safety. After showing up at Kazuma’s home, Kimishima picks up Kanami and is immediately stopped by an entire team of HOLD soldiers and both are taken prisoner. In the meantime, Mimori runs across some criminals who mean to rob her, only to be saved by Tachibana who now works as a bootlegger. After seeing the televised battle between Kazuma and Dar, Tachibana offers to join with Mimori in finding Kazuma who he believes that he owes a favor to.

While Kazuma continues the fight with Dar, the prisoners are rounded into town and paraded in front of the villagers as accomplices of the dangerous monster Kazuma (whose fight with HOLY has been televised as propaganda). The villagers become restless at the suggestion that Kazuma has brought destruction to their homes, and Kimishima becomes enraged at how his friend is being portrayed as a monster when he has fought for these people. Attacking the guards (with some help from citizens who didn’t want to see Kanami harmed) Kimishima escapes with Kanami. Leaving Kanami behind in a safe place, Kimishima rushes towards Kazuma wanting to help his friend in his long battle. After arriving at the battle, he directs Kazuma towards the true version of Dar allowing Kazuma to kill his opponent.

Directing Kazuma towards Kanami, Kimishima collapses from the ordeals of escaping from HOLD troops and has to be carried by Kazuma. After finally reuniting with the scared Kanami, Kazuma discovers that his friend suffered more than exhaustion and had died while being carried.

13. Lost Ground

With the death of Kimishima, Kazuma has declared open war against all enemies and has unleashed his full fury on HOLD and HOLY. After wiping out the entire HOLD team nearby, Kazuma brings Kanami back home. Seeing another HOLY group, Kazuma rushes off to mete more revenge on behalf of his friend’s memory. After seeing the damage that either has been doing, Ryuho and Kazuma finally meet in another battle. This time both men fight to kill their opponent and neither holds back.

The battle is fierce as the ground beneath them is unable to withstand the raw power of the pitched fighting. As the earth disintegrates beneath them, a giant pillar of energy emanates from the ground as Kazuma releases his full potential. The power release causes another massive earthquake to traumatize the Lost Ground as a brutal 8.5 on the Richter scale decimates the island.

14. Kyoji Mujo

The fourth episode returns to the story 8 months after the gigantic earthquake. Mimori and Tachibana are working together while being fed information about HOLY movements by Cougar. Kanami and the survivors have been placed into a prison camp under the control of an Alter user who has enslaved the populace to garner him wealth. HOLY has undergone a severe retrofit in the meantime, newcomer Kyoji Mujo has arrived and taken control of HOLY from Zigarl, and reduced the standing force of HOLY to approximately 8 members as well as some new additions produced from the experiments on captured Alters.

In the concentration camp, Kanami is distressed that she hasn’t been able to find Kazuma yet. But a new arrival at the camp remains hidden behind his cloak. After some of the guards begin to attack Kanami and one of her friends, the cloaked stranger defends her and then is surrounded by all of the guards of the compound. The cloak is then drawn back to reveal… Ryuho. The “protector” Ryuho defeats all the guards in combat and is then attacked by the Alter user who runs the camp.

S-cry-ed is a definite “style” and “substance” show, the graphics are bright, vibrant, and somewhat addictive and the content isn’t too bad either. Highly recommended for the otaku looking for a series that combines visual candy with an above average story line.

- Tazman

(February 1, 2004)

"Don't you practice sentences to see how they will sound?"

"You mean like "Put your hands behind your head!" or "How much for the twins?""

- Brak and Zorak (The Brak Show)  

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